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Depends on the type of bottle jack. It's a broad term that can mean both the hydraulic kind and the mechanical screw driven kind, which used to be more common in older american cars (lots of fords had them).
Both do have the issue of getting under low cars, but they are safer and more stable than scissor jacks. Scissor jacks fold and crumple extremely easily if the load shifts perpendicular to the arm direction. Bottle jacks will tilt but not collapse until they fall over center.
I agree a hydraulic jack should not be kept as the emergency spare. When they sit the seals dry out and if they tip over they can empty all their hydraulic oil out into your trunk. Plus they are not safe to be under a vehicle with as hydraulics can fail and drop the vehicle without warning.
TIL about screw driven bottle jacks, thanks
And, yeah, I’d only use any jack to change a tire and would never get under a car without using high quality jack stands.
If you go the bottle jack route it wouldn't hurt to keep a jack stand as well, so if the bottle fails for some reason the jack stand is a backup.
Having a jack stand is essential anyways for any under-car work, like changing your oil.
Fortunately not likely to be something you'd need to do in an emergency on a roadside. Changing a tire shouldn't require going underneath the vehicle.